WARWICK — Cornwall's Anthony Hall won't call himself the best sprinter in Orange County because he unexpectedly lost a dual-meet race, but when it counted most he came up big.

Hall claimed the 100-meter dash title in the Orange County Interscholastic Athletic Association championships Saturday, running the straightaway in 11.05 seconds. Warwick's Tommy Reilly, who upset Hall in the regular season, finished second in 11.23.

"The kid from Warwick has been catching up on me lately,'' Hall said. "I didn't want to lose to him again.''

Hall said "kids in school were making fun of me,'' following his loss to Reilly, and that stinging setback helped push him to victory in the county meet.

"Anthony was not happy about that loss,'' said Cornwall coach Dave Feuer.

On Friday, Hall set the Cornwall school record with a 10.90 in the trials round.

"I think he's very fast,'' Reilly said of Hall. "He's a great runner, he has great speed and is really, really good at accelerating.''

Hall said he has improved his starts but the best aspect of his 100 is the middle phase.

"Sooner or later my start should be the best part but my middle is really strong for me right now,'' Hall said.

"He has a knack for knowing where he has got to be at certain times in the race,'' Feuer said. "Even if he has a bad start, he makes up for mistakes that a lot of sprinters can't.''

Hall tried to pull off a sprint double but lost a photo finish to Newburgh Free Academy's Roberto Joseph in the 200 final — Joseph crossed in 22.446 seconds and Hall was 4-1,000ths of a second behind. Hall capped the meet by anchoring Cornwall's third-place entry in the 1,600 relay.

With the state meet in Middletown in three weeks time, Hall knows he has a lot of work ahead of him if he intends to challenge for a gold medal in the 100. He believes a top-three finish is possible.

"Hopefully I am feeling good that day,'' he said.

Hall is headed for Manhattan College next school year to work on a double major of finance and international studies.

"Manhattan is a nice program for him,'' Feuer said. "It's a sprint-oriented program. He's going to get taken care of there.''